Residents' urine now radioactive Fukushima

[kristopher]

Source: Kyodo

More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday.

Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has been releasing radioactive material into the environment since the week of March 11, when the quake and tsunami caused core meltdowns.

"This won't be a problem if they don't eat vegetables or other products that are contaminated," said Nanao Kamada, professor emeritus of radiation biology at Hiroshima University. "But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas."

Kamada teamed up with doctors including Osamu Saito of Watari Hospital in the city of Fukushima to conduct two rounds of tests on each resident in early and late May, taking urine samples from 15 people between 4 and 77.

Radioactive cesium was found...

Read more: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110627a2.html

[BeFree]

1. Bummer

We could invite them to come live here in Nebraska, but it may be like asking them to jump from the pan into the fire.

[MADem]

2. I need new glasses--I initially read that as PRESIDENT'S urine... nt

[Poll_Blind]

4. Glowbama?

:shrug:

PB

[MADem]

5. Nyuck, nyuck! nt

[BeFree]

7. Well, maybe they should test him?

[yurbud]

10. that would be poetic justice

[Poll_Blind]

3. They won't be pissing out the strontium-90, though- that's taken up residence in their bones.

PB

[Thor_MN]

6. On the bright side, the men's aim while going in the middle of the night has improved...

[daleo]

8. Radioactive urine means

Urine trouble.

[No Elephants]

11. LOL!

[kristopher]

12. +1 Thanks for the laugh.

[defendandprotect]

9. kr

[Prometheus Bound]

13. We've reached the bottom when these reports become fodder for jokes.

[boppers]

14. I think we've reached the bottom when illness and death is the butt of the joke.

Here's a hint: Everybody is radioactive. Always have been.

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[Prometheus Bound]

15. The exposure rate reported in this article is 4.8 to 14 times higher than that in your chart..

Yours says 1 mSv in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone.

According to this article exposure was 4.9 to 14.2 mSv over 2 months and this is outside the exclusion zone.

It looks like your chart needs updating.

[Devil_Fish]

16. So their pissing the equivilant of spending a half an hour at chernobyl...NT

[Endangered Specie]

17. I think you are off by about a factor of 1000

0.003 Sv = 3 millisevierts = 3000 micro.

You are looking at about .036 seconds going by the 5Sv/minute.

[Devil_Fish]

18. No I was going by the chart in the top right hand corner.

2010 spending 1hr on the grounds around churnobyl = 6 mSv